Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan today visited Bandipora district to review the measures taken by the District Administration in containing COVID-19, besides he reviewed the developmental works being executed in the district under different schemes.Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora, Ravinder Kumar gave a detailed presentation about the measures being taken by the district administration to contain the spread of the virus in the district.While reviewing the measures taken by the district administration, Advisor Baseer Khan stressed on extensive sampling in red zones with special focus on senior citizens and with persons having ailments.He called for aggressive tracing of contacts of positive patients and follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in letter and spirit. He asked the officers to involve local representatives and religious leaders who will motivate the people to cooperate with the medical teams so that contacts are easily traced and treated besides asking the people to take precautionary measures including adoption of social distancing and universal use of masks.Advisor Baseer Khan appreciated the performance of the officers and the field staff and asked them to continue to work religiously to fight the disease. He asked the district administration to allow the service providers to start their business only after testing them for COVID-19.The Advisor also stressed on ensuring availability of essential commodities in red and buffer zones, besides ensuring that people don’t face hardships in these areas owing to lockdown.
He also called for strict implementation of orders regarding mandatory use of masks in public places and asked the law enforcing agencies to ensure strict action against any such violation.Earlier, Advisor Baseer Khan inspected the developmental works being executed by the Department of Rural Development in the district. He visited several villages in the district and inspected the ongoing works being executed by the department under MGNREGA.He directed the officers to start execution of works in every village while taking all precautionary measures amid COVID-19 pandemic. He stressed on generating more man days so that the unemployed persons get jobs under the scheme to earn livelihood.The Advisor emphasized upon the officers to focus on wage oriented employment generation so that poor and needy people can work to earn their livelihood which is also the ultimate motive behind the MGNREGA and asked them to maintain the ratio of material-labour component. Advisor Baseer Khan along with Director RDD Qazi Sarwar inspected the ongoing work on development of play field at Guzar Mohalla Rakhi-Shilwat being executed under MGNREGA and 14th FC at the cost of Rs 10 lac.They also inspected the deepening and widening works of Z-Khul at Nesbal and construction of inner roads under MGNREGA at SK Bala.Advisor Khan said that under the scheme, the department is not only providing jobs to the unemployed persons but is also creating durable assets in the villages by laying stress on the construction of roads, inner links and play fields.